Statement on the Leaking of the Official Letter to the Social Media

Karen National Union Headquarters | October 29, 2018

Karen National Union has sent an official letter to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, chairwoman of the National Reconciliation and Peace Centre (NRPC), on 27 October, 2018.

The letter stated that KNU is an organization founded on democratic principles which enshrine the responsibility, accountability and transparency of each individual as part of the collective responsibility, accountability and decision making as an organization and its people.

Therefore, the agreements reached during the private meeting between the government and ethnic armed organizations organized during October 15-16, 2018 shall be presented within KNU to be discussed, endorsed and negotiated internally followed by making decisions.

Therefore, as all the members of the organization have yet to understand and endorse the new mechanism, framework and decision-making process of the peace process, KNU is informing the government that we will temporarily refrain from participating in any current peace negotiation activity.

The content of the official letter, which is an important communication of our position to the main stakeholders of the peace process, however was disseminated to the social media in a very short amount of time. We believe that it is the responsibility of relevant parties to keep confidential information as such securely. Only then, we believe, can we strengthen the trust and reconciliation among the stakeholders working towards sustainable peace. Moreover, KNU has made a commitment to consistently work towards sustainable peace through the peace process based on NCA.

Central Executive Commitee